to divine being. But he did not clarify this important element of the doctrine, and it can lead to misunderstandings. It is clear that one can attribute different meanings to volition and the freedom of volition, depending on whether one is speaking of the animate and rational world or of the inanimate and nonrational world. One can speak of will as the general proto-ground of being (which is reminiscent of the voluntaristic metaphysics of Leibniz or Schopenhauer), but it is clear that such an authentically